RIM to offer its mobile device management software on Android, iOS

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a new mobile device management suite due early next …

Research In Motion's executives have apparently decided that if they can't beat Apple and Google, they'll join them. The company announced today that it will offer its mobile device management and security software for iOS and Android devices, allowing enterprise customers to manage them alongside BlackBerry phones.

The new software, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, will provide many of the same central administration features now offered on RIM's own phone OS—including remote locking of devices and remote erasing of their storage, application and software management, security policy enforcement, and management of WiFi and VPN connections among them. The software will be available in the first quarter of 2012, according to a company statement.

The move is an acknowledgement of the growing trend of companies adopting "bring your own device" policies to accommodate employees' desire to use their own smartphones and tablet devices in the enterprise, and of the iPad's dominance in the tablet space.

By integrating with iOS and Android, RIM vice president of enterprise product management Alan Panezic told Reuters, RIM is shooting to "become the de facto platform" for managing mobile devices in the enterprise. "We will take full advantage of whatever security capabilities are provided by the core operating system—we're not going to hold back in any way, shape or form."

The problem RIM faces is that the mobile device management market is already crowded. The BlackBerry still remains a favorite of large companies and the government (though that favor may have diminished after the worldwide RIM e-mail outage in October), and that's largely been because of the platform's management features. It's possible that Mobile Fusion could give BlackBerry the opportunity to hang on to its mobile device management customer base (which the company claims includes 90 percent of the Fortune 500), or at least delay their decisions to move to multiple platform mobile device management tools from companies such as Good Technology (which is making inroads with RIM's government customers) and MobileIron. On the other hand, it could shoot RIM's handset business in the foot, as large companies dump the BlackBerry en masse and move to iOS and Android.

28 Reader Comments

That's funny you mentioned Good Technology. Back in the Win Mobile days they were considered the next rising star and how will Exchange ActiveSync on Windows Mobile will displace Blackberry because Active Sync is "free". It looks like it takes more than just Exchange Active Sync to beat Blackberry.

I hope this means my company can finally ditch the Blackberry only policy.

The recognition of the beginning of the end for RIM. Several things come to mind.

One is that a survey now shows that when Android and iOS devices are added together, for the first time, they total more than BB's in corporate use.

Two is an article in one of the computer/financial sites. The author was holding a seminar in a conference about mobile communications. His seminar was aimed toward CIO's. He asked how many of their companies had BES servers, and most raised their hands. He then asked how many would have them in three years. None raised their hands.

RIM is trying to prevent this, but it's a losing battle. android and iOS are moving in despite whatever RIM is doing. This is without RIM's software. RIM makes most of its money selling hardware. Now, those hardware sales are shrinking. if this software is even moderately successful, it will just accelerate that shrinkage.

Security to RIM is as OS X to Apple. Apple doesn't license that for a good reason. Now RIM will see why, assuming anyone cares enough to license it.

On the other hand, it could shoot RIM's handset business in the foot, as large companies dump the BlackBerry en masse and move to iOS and Android.

I think this is the more likely conclusion.

I believe they have already seen that their business is floundering in the normal consumer market and that their reliance on Government and Corporate bodies has a shelf life that's near expiration.

It's sad; I like Blackberry, but they moved WAY too slow. Their Applications you could purchase were a joke. I really do believe that applications were what propelled iPhones and Android phones to supremacy.

RIM is trying to prevent this, but it's a losing battle. android and iOS are moving in despite whatever RIM is doing. This is without RIM's software. RIM makes most of its money selling hardware. Now, those hardware sales are shrinking. if this software is even moderately successful, it will just accelerate that shrinkage.

At a joint customer and partner forum today in Beijing, Microsoft Corp. and AgreeYa Mobility announced a protocol licensing agreement that allows AgreeYa Mobility solutions to interoperate with select Microsoft enterprise applications and services. This licensing agreement will enable AgreeYa Mobility to create solutions for non-Microsoft mobile platforms (including iOS, Android, RIM and WebOS) that connect with Microsoft enterprise back-end systems. The goal of the agreement is to expand the reach of Microsoft’s enterprise applications and cloud services across a broad range of heterogeneous mobile devices and tablets.

Not quite the same as what RIM has announced, but this will likely push even more sites away from RIM's platform. The clock is ticking.

I don't understand how they are going to provide software like this for iOS through the AppStore. I doubt any app developer can just remote wipe a user's iPhone, and I don't see why Apple would offer RIM any special privileges.

Sounds a lot like when that game developer announced that Apple was trying out game subscriptions before Apple booted their app.

The recognition of the beginning of the end for RIM. Several things come to mind.

RIM is losing marketshare and that's not going to change. I think this is actually a great way for RIM to stay relevant - no one else is making anything quite like BES.

melgross wrote:

He asked how many of their companies had BES servers, and most raised their hands. He then asked how many would have them in three years. None raised their hands.

I think the question they were answering is, "How many of you would *like* to have BES servers in three years." I myself think that BES 5.0 is bloated, nightmarish to get started, and ridiculously complicated for its own good.

melgross wrote:

Security to RIM is as OS X to Apple. Apple doesn't license that for a good reason. Now RIM will see why, assuming anyone cares enough to license it.

No one said anything about licensing it. It's also possible that a lot of the "killer" security features will be Blackberry-only.

I agree with you that RIM is fighting an uphill battle here...it's not necessarily a losing battle (although there is an extremely good chance that will be the case, regardless) unless RIM decides to change the way it does business and their overall image. I think this could be (caveat: *could be*) a good start to that.

Imagine the chagrin of Android and iOS Platformers when their personal phone is integrated into a BMF system.

Make money off of the massive influx of consumer devices into IT? Bravo for them, I can't see why this is a bad idea. And the piss poor management tools at large for the aforementioned platforms need the help.

I don't understand how they are going to provide software like this for iOS through the AppStore. I doubt any app developer can just remote wipe a user's iPhone, and I don't see why Apple would offer RIM any special privileges.

Sounds a lot like when that game developer announced that Apple was trying out game subscriptions before Apple booted their app.

Corporations don't need Apple's approval for apps they may install on their own phones.

Smart move by RIM. They see that companies are moving towards other phone platforms which means that those companies need a way to manage those devices. That has meant using Good, MobileIron, Trust Digital, etc and most organizations are not going to maintain two separate systems to manage handsets long term. That means that once the decision to change over is made, Blackberries are going to be dropped completely unless RIM makes this move to allow the BES to manage other devices.

Now, not only does RIM fight off Good and other competitors on the server end, they also keep themselves in the mix on the handset end for those people who prefer Blackberries.

bluewater wrote:

I don't understand how they are going to provide software like this for iOS through the AppStore. I doubt any app developer can just remote wipe a user's iPhone, and I don't see why Apple would offer RIM any special privileges.

Sounds a lot like when that game developer announced that Apple was trying out game subscriptions before Apple booted their app.

Good and MobileIron (for example) already allow you to remote wipe the iPhone. They've been available for a couple of years. You download the apps through the app store from my understanding.

I don't understand how they are going to provide software like this for iOS through the AppStore. I doubt any app developer can just remote wipe a user's iPhone, and I don't see why Apple would offer RIM any special privileges.

Sounds a lot like when that game developer announced that Apple was trying out game subscriptions before Apple booted their app.

Corporations don't need Apple's approval for apps they may install on their own phones.

And MobileIron provides similar functionality (or so their technical presentation leads me to believe) via an app that's on the App Store right now. So there doesn't seem to be any roadblock to RIM doing the same.

RIM is losing marketshare and that's not going to change. I think this is actually a great way for RIM to stay relevant - no one else is making anything quite like BES.

I agree. RIM's management is acknowledging they've lost the edge in hardware, but this seems like a smart way to leverage their existing corporate user base even if their hardware continues to decline in sales.

The hardware is mostly fine. The problem is the BB OS and RIM's half-assed merging of the touch and non-touch screen OS's in OS 6, plus the massive issues they seem to be having getting the core BB functions to run on something other than the BB OS. (eg - the Playbook). Someone with too much authority panicked and pushed the products out too soon, and I'm guessing someone told whoever it was that that would do nothing but turn into a massive fustercluck, and was ignored.

I'm hoping this is a first step for RIM to making the core BB functions something that can be run on iOS, Android or whatever name RIM comes up with for their in-house OS's. You'd get the BB security & superior device management functions BES offers, and people can use whatever device they want. A lot of my users still prefer the BB for email because it simply works, and they still like the physical keyboard on the BB better than other devices.

We use Good to support email on IOS and Android devices, and quite frankly, good sucks like few orther thing's we've encountered. I'm pretty sure our techs spend more time on the phone with Good getting accounts removed from the Good back end (so they can re-do the setup).

It would be very, very nice to be able to just have one management utility for mobile devices though.

Uh, with iOS, and an Exchnge 2007 or 2010 server, most of this is already possible without any 3rd party integration... Remote wipe, enforcing passwords, enforcing lock time, Enforcing encryption, and more, Without BES and Without intermediate software.

For this reason, iOS quickly passed DOI and DOD security clearance to the same level as RIM and WinMo 6.5. Enterprises can already distribute their own software through iTunes without the need to host it on Apple's Store to phones they manage, and with OTA syncing that now no longer requires direct IT involvement once the app has been installed the first time, just connecting to the company network.

What is RIM bringing to iOS that Apple has not provided already, other than allowing the single implementation they may already have supporting legacy RIM devices to now support others as well? I work a lot with IT phone systems, and the VAST majority are dumping RIM and Rim's extortive costs for iOS and Excange and simplifying their infrastructure and securirty.

Smart move by RIM. They see that companies are moving towards other phone platforms which means that those companies need a way to manage those devices. That has meant using Good, MobileIron, Trust Digital, etc and most organizations are not going to maintain two separate systems to manage handsets long term. That means that once the decision to change over is made, Blackberries are going to be dropped completely unless RIM makes this move to allow the BES to manage other devices.

Now, not only does RIM fight off Good and other competitors on the server end, they also keep themselves in the mix on the handset end for those people who prefer Blackberries.

bluewater wrote:

I don't understand how they are going to provide software like this for iOS through the AppStore. I doubt any app developer can just remote wipe a user's iPhone, and I don't see why Apple would offer RIM any special privileges.

Sounds a lot like when that game developer announced that Apple was trying out game subscriptions before Apple booted their app.

Good and MobileIron (for example) already allow you to remote wipe the iPhone. They've been available for a couple of years. You download the apps through the app store from my understanding.

Find My iPhone from Apple, as well as Exchange servers have been able to remote wipe a phone for 3 years, without apps on the device. Good was a nice option for secure (encrypted) email for companies that could not meet mail security audits with only HTTPS and dual factor authentication, but most standards no longer require that, they require active filtering to ensure no PII/PHI/PCI goes through e-mail in the first place eliminating encryption requirements, or companies put up mail encryption proxies (where the message isn't sent, only a link to an encrypted and secure page).

RIM is trying to prevent this, but it's a losing battle. android and iOS are moving in despite whatever RIM is doing. This is without RIM's software. RIM makes most of its money selling hardware. Now, those hardware sales are shrinking. if this software is even moderately successful, it will just accelerate that shrinkage.

At a joint customer and partner forum today in Beijing, Microsoft Corp. and AgreeYa Mobility announced a protocol licensing agreement that allows AgreeYa Mobility solutions to interoperate with select Microsoft enterprise applications and services. This licensing agreement will enable AgreeYa Mobility to create solutions for non-Microsoft mobile platforms (including iOS, Android, RIM and WebOS) that connect with Microsoft enterprise back-end systems. The goal of the agreement is to expand the reach of Microsoft’s enterprise applications and cloud services across a broad range of heterogeneous mobile devices and tablets.

Not quite the same as what RIM has announced, but this will likely push even more sites away from RIM's platform. The clock is ticking.

That's right. I read that earlier. It's even possible that Apple will license some of that as well.

The recognition of the beginning of the end for RIM. Several things come to mind.

RIM is losing marketshare and that's not going to change. I think this is actually a great way for RIM to stay relevant - no one else is making anything quite like BES.

melgross wrote:

He asked how many of their companies had BES servers, and most raised their hands. He then asked how many would have them in three years. None raised their hands.

I think the question they were answering is, "How many of you would *like* to have BES servers in three years." I myself think that BES 5.0 is bloated, nightmarish to get started, and ridiculously complicated for its own good.

melgross wrote:

Security to RIM is as OS X to Apple. Apple doesn't license that for a good reason. Now RIM will see why, assuming anyone cares enough to license it.

No one said anything about licensing it. It's also possible that a lot of the "killer" security features will be Blackberry-only.

I agree with you that RIM is fighting an uphill battle here...it's not necessarily a losing battle (although there is an extremely good chance that will be the case, regardless) unless RIM decides to change the way it does business and their overall image. I think this could be (caveat: *could be*) a good start to that.

Now if they can just unbloat BES, they'll be on to something!

The question is how relevant is BES today? If Android, a not very secure OS, and iOS, more secure in a number of ways, but with its own faults, are eclipsing the BB in enterprise, the government, and even the armed forces, then perhaps those organizations don't believe that BEs is all that advantageous. Perhaps the outages are not helping either.

The question they were answering is how many believed they would have BES, not how many wished they wouldn't.

How would they be offering it to organizations without them licensing it for this purpose? They certainly couldn't make any money off it if it weren't being licensed.

RIM is seen as being less credible as time goes on. The Playbook came without essential services. Why was that? Was it because RIM actually thought, as they were telling us, that it was better this way? Then when it proved that people weren't happy with it, they promised it would be added by early summer.

Well, summer is long gone, and now it's sometime February. The problem is that their account model only allows for one device per account. No way to get a Playbook to work if you've got a BB. So why don't they allow this for those who don't have BB's? A good question, and I have no answer for that. Perhaps you know more about how it works. If so, I'd like to see your take on that.

This is also relating to the new QNX, or, if it's allowed, BBX phones. First they alluded to it being available early in the new year. Then they're saying sometime in the first half. This is indirect, as they aren't making outright statements. But I've read that it may not be available until the latter part of 2012. This is way too late.

They brag about having 70 million customer accounts worldwide, but Apple alone will sell over 85 million phones in 2011. So 70 million is not a big number these days for smartphones. Current phone sales are dropping for the first time in, well, forever. What condition will they be in when the new stuff rolls around?

I feel it's difficult to turn a damaged brand around. They don't have a Steve Jobs capable of doing that.

Uh, with iOS, and an Exchnge 2007 or 2010 server, most of this is already possible without any 3rd party integration... Remote wipe, enforcing passwords, enforcing lock time, Enforcing encryption, and more, Without BES and Without intermediate software.

For this reason, iOS quickly passed DOI and DOD security clearance to the same level as RIM and WinMo 6.5. Enterprises can already distribute their own software through iTunes without the need to host it on Apple's Store to phones they manage, and with OTA syncing that now no longer requires direct IT involvement once the app has been installed the first time, just connecting to the company network.

What is RIM bringing to iOS that Apple has not provided already, other than allowing the single implementation they may already have supporting legacy RIM devices to now support others as well? I work a lot with IT phone systems, and the VAST majority are dumping RIM and Rim's extortive costs for iOS and Excange and simplifying their infrastructure and securirty.

Comparing the iPhone's enterprise capabilities is like comparing OS X Server to Windows Server. iPhones in the enterprise is kludge, at best, and is only happening because Execs are on board with the New Shiny. Blackberries are about as sexy as Pintos right.

Just the thought of using iTunes as a application distribution medium in the Enterprise is just sad. Personally I'd like to see productivity numbers from the various devices and see where that ends up. I can see where the push back from using something like BMF would come from: once mobile devices are locked down like corporate computers a lot of the shine will wear off.

Uh, with iOS, and an Exchnge 2007 or 2010 server, most of this is already possible without any 3rd party integration... Remote wipe, enforcing passwords, enforcing lock time, Enforcing encryption, and more, Without BES and Without intermediate software.

Yup...if you are a small shop and have the time to manually do all of that, then the bare exchange tools are perfectly adequate for basic connectivity. Good, MobileIron, etc are for companies that need to manage more than just a handful of devices and/or need features that exchange simply doesn't offer.

I mean, I can telnet from a DOS prompt (and sometimes I do in a pinch) but I use Putty because it offers features that DOS based telnet simply doesn't have.

Uh, with iOS, and an Exchnge 2007 or 2010 server, most of this is already possible without any 3rd party integration... Remote wipe, enforcing passwords, enforcing lock time, Enforcing encryption, and more, Without BES and Without intermediate software.

For this reason, iOS quickly passed DOI and DOD security clearance to the same level as RIM and WinMo 6.5. Enterprises can already distribute their own software through iTunes without the need to host it on Apple's Store to phones they manage, and with OTA syncing that now no longer requires direct IT involvement once the app has been installed the first time, just connecting to the company network.

What is RIM bringing to iOS that Apple has not provided already, other than allowing the single implementation they may already have supporting legacy RIM devices to now support others as well? I work a lot with IT phone systems, and the VAST majority are dumping RIM and Rim's extortive costs for iOS and Excange and simplifying their infrastructure and securirty.

Comparing the iPhone's enterprise capabilities is like comparing OS X Server to Windows Server. iPhones in the enterprise is kludge, at best, and is only happening because Execs are on board with the New Shiny. Blackberries are about as sexy as Pintos right.

Just the thought of using iTunes as a application distribution medium in the Enterprise is just sad. Personally I'd like to see productivity numbers from the various devices and see where that ends up. I can see where the push back from using something like BMF would come from: once mobile devices are locked down like corporate computers a lot of the shine will wear off.

You apparently don't know that iPhone integration with MS's enterprise software is considered to be better than MS's own WP7.

And you also don't know that for some time, Apple has allowed companies to have their own private distribution centers for apps that don't appear in the public store.

Sean Gallagher / Sean is Ars Technica's IT Editor. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.